CLEMATIS LANE. 79 



clung; there were ferns deeper in the hedge, and 

 yellow bedstraw by the gateways. A few blackberries 

 were ripe, but the clematis seemed to have overcome 

 the brambles, and spoilt their yield. Nuts, reddened 

 at the tip, were visible on the higher hazel boughs ; 

 they were ripe, but difficult to get at. 



Leaving the lane by a waggon track — a gipsy track 

 through a copse — there were large bunches of pale-red 

 berries hanging from the wayfaring trees, or wild 

 viburnum, and green and red berries of bryony 

 wreathed among the branches. The bryony leaves 

 had turned, some were pale buff already. Among the 

 many berries of autumn those of the wayfaring tree 

 may be known by their flattened shape, as if the sides 

 had been pressed in like a flask. The bushes were not 

 high enough for shadow, and the harvest sun was hot 

 between them. The track led past the foot of a steep 

 headland of the Downs, which could not be left with- 

 out an ascent. Dry and slippery, the short grass gave 

 no hold to the feet, and it was necessary to step in the 

 holes cut through the turf for the purpose. Pushed 

 forward from the main line of the Downs, the buff 

 headland projected into the Weald, as headlands on the 

 southern side of the range project into the sea. To- 

 wards the summit the brow came out somewhat, and 

 even the rude steps in the turf were not much assist- 

 ance in climbing this almost perpendicular wall of 

 sward. Above the brow the ascent became easy; 

 these brows raised steeper than the general slope are 

 often found on the higher hills. A circular entrench- 

 ment encloses the summit, but the rampart has much 

 sunk, and is in places levelled. Here it was pleasant 



